Wicked as Lies (Wicked & Devoted #3) - Shayla Black Page 0,97
horrible idea. Of all of us, he took most of the dangerous missions, so if his machine fell into the wrong hands…”
True. As former CIA, Josiah had taken those gigs because no one had his field or spy experience. His shoes would be incredibly hard to fill. And Zy wasn’t totally shocked that Trees hadn’t found anything incriminating, just frustrated.
Who the hell was their fucking mole?
“Yeah. Did you check the network?”
“Only enough to ensure that we haven’t been breached and don’t have any detectable trojans or malware. But I haven’t done any sort of deep dive through internal communications. I ran out of time.” He sighed. “And now I’m out of steam, so I’m going to go home, grab a few hours of sleep, and I’ll be back this afternoon to finish up. I called Hunter to let him know. He told me he’s got a new assignment for me in Florida starting tomorrow, so I’ll be sure to finish this before I go.”
Zy’s impatience made him wish Trees had all the answers now, but his buddy had done what he could after their seven-hour drive yesterday, and he needed to tamp down his expectations. “Thanks, man. I appreciate it more than I can tell you. Really.”
He nodded and got to his feet, then grabbed his keys before lumbering for the door. “Try to hold your shit together while I’m gone. We’ll have more answers soon.”
Zy nodded and let him go. He didn’t want to…but fuck. He couldn’t expect Trees’s engine to rev when he had no more gas in his tank. “Do you need me to take you home?”
“Nah. I’m good.” His buddy waved, then he was gone.
In the silence, minutes ticked by like hours while he waited for the bosses to arrive so they could have the conversation he’d been dying for since Christmas Eve. He downed coffee and tried to catch up on emails, watching the door all the while.
Finally, Hunter came in, went straight to his office, and shut the door. Logan came in a few minutes later and did roughly the same thing. Joaquin finally appeared thirty minutes after that, and the bosses immediately holed up in the conference room for what appeared to be some super-secret powwow.
Motherfucking sons of bitches. He was tired of waiting for them to make good on their promise.
At close to eight, Zy rose and paced the reception area in front of Tessa’s desk, feeling like he might crawl out of his skin. He wanted to see her, talk to her. And if his “negotiation” with the bosses—when he finally got to have it—went well, he wanted to touch her. But she was running late.
Hopefully, nothing was wrong.
Suddenly, Logan emerged, grabbed a black coffee, then approached him. “You have a desk.”
He did—way in the back and around the corner where he couldn’t see Tessa walk through the front door. Logan knew it, too.
“Waiting to say hey to the new guy,” Zy lied.
Logan shot him a dubious stare over the rim of his mug. “Sure you are. Lucky for you, Kane is already here, finishing up some paperwork with Joaquin. I’ll take you right to him since you’re so eager to shake his hand.”
Bastard. His boss was calling his bluff. “What the fuck do you want?”
“We’re ready to talk. Conference room. Five minutes. Come with less attitude. We’ve got a new mission for you.”
Seriously? He’d just gotten back, goddamn it. They knew what he wanted. The last thing he wanted to do was leave town again. Yeah, yeah… This was his life, and he’d signed up for this job. He was often gone for weeks at a time with almost no advance warning. But he needed to fix this contractual situation and settle everything with Tessa before the wedge she’d put between them over a month ago grew bigger.
Zy didn’t bother to swallow down his sarcasm. “Can’t wait.”
“Don’t worry. You’re going to love this mission,” Logan assured with an evil grin. “Right before you hate it.”
Then the son of a bitch disappeared.
What the fuck did that mean? He didn’t have time to figure it out before the door behind him opened.
Zy turned. And there she was, his gorgeous bundle of blonde, all big green eyes, soft mouth, and lush tits. He’d missed everything about her, right down to her Southern sass and bless-your-hearts. Jesus, even the sight of her had his breath catching and his body pinging.
Yeah, he had it bad for Tess…and every fucking person on this team knew it.